Raw food for dogs is one of the fastest growing segments in Canada’s fast growing pet-sector, a market that is set to pass $8 billion in annual spending in Canada.

Pet owners are directing more cash toward “prey” diets and “biologically appropriate raw food” based on the notion that dogs should be eating food that approximates the diet of wolves.

Sales of raw dog food rose 50 per cent in each of 2014 and 2015 in the United States, according to market research by GfK. While sales in Canada are not recorded, local producers and retailers report strong growth.

Kerrisdale’s True Carnivores has been in business for 20 years and enjoyed steady growth, but recently raw dog food volume is growing noticeably faster.

“There’s no doubt we are selling more weight recently,” said owner David Kariotakis. “I would conservatively say business has doubled in the past six years.”

New producers are piling in to the expanding market. Kariotakis said a new brand of raw food for dogs lands on his desk virtually every month.

“It used to be just a handful of us, the pioneers,” he said. “It’s becoming very fragmented and new entrants are trying to lower the cost by extending their food with cheaper ingredients.”

Pet owners are increasingly projecting their own food preferences onto their pets looking for grain-free, gluten-free and GMO-free formulations, according to recent market research by Packaged Facts.

“You see countless examples of human diet trends making their way into pet foods, usually with a time lag of 18-24 months,” said study author Norman Deschamps. “Grain-free pet foods are a major trend right now, which appeared after gluten-free and grain-free diets became popular for people.”

Those pet owners are more than willing to shell out between $2 and $8 a day for premium raw food versus $1 to $2 a day for dry kibble.

“The market is continually growing and in the past two years it has accelerated,” said Inna Shekhtman, owner of North Vancouver-based raw pet food producer Red Dog Deli, which makes 10 varieties made from everything from rabbit and kangaroo to beef, buffalo and poultry.

“We know that eating minimally processed foods with less preservatives ultimately makes us healthier and people have applied that same thinking to their pets,” she said. “They are members of the family and we want them to live longer and healthier lives.”

Red Dog endeavours to match the ratio of meat, bone, organ and vegetation that wolves eat in the wild.

“We’ve had some help from veterinarians, doing some analysis on that,” she said.

However, many veterinarians remain skeptical of the value of raw meat diets.

“There is no scientific evidence of health benefit to the pet,” said Tammy Owens, an assistant professor of veterinary medicine at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and a diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition.

Dogs have “co-evolved” with humans for thousands of years and are much better able to digest starch than their wolf ancestors. A genomic study of domesticated dogs published in Nature found signals of selection in ten genes related to starch digestion.

“Add to that, no one has really established that the wolf diet would provide the kind of life and longevity that we want for our pets,” she said. “Wolves and wild canids only live a few years while we want our dogs to live more than a decade.”

Owens also poured cold water on the popular notion that freezing or freeze-drying raw pet food can control the harmful pathogens commonly found in raw meat.

“There have been documented cases of animals becoming ill, being hospitalized and even dying from (raw food) associated infections,” she said.

A review of scientific literature published by The Canadian Veterinary Journal found that raw pet food is often contaminated E. coli or salmonella, which could also be detected the animals’ feces.

The authors concluded that “raw food poses a substantial risk of infectious disease to the pet, the pet’s environment, and the humans in the household.”

Even when animals do not show clinical symptoms of illness, they can shed harmful bacteria in their environment and “that is a serious concern if there are small children or immune-compromised people in the home,” said Owens.

The incidence of pathogens in commercial dry food is considerably lower than in raw food.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Center for Disease Control have condemned raw meat feeding, while the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association and the Public Health Agency issued a joint position opposing raw meat feeding due to the risk it poses to human health.

But for a growing number of pet owners, the benefits of raw pet foods outweigh the risks.

Tracey Kusiewicz switched her dog Kayla to the BARF (bones and raw food) diet 13 years ago to address food- and air-borne allergies on the advice of her vet. Kayla’s symptoms subsided after switching to goat, a grass-fed meat.

“It makes for a super-healthy dog,” said Kusiewicz, a freelance food photographer. “She doesn’t stink, has minimal waste and a shiny coat. Even though it is more expensive up front, I’m sure I’ve saved on vet bills.”

True Carnivores carries 21 brands of raw and limited ingredient dog foods, many of which are marketed in much the same way as health food for humans. Label claims include grass-fed, pasture-raised, non-medicated, organic, natural and grain-free along with more practical features.

A few are freeze- or air-dried, which makes the product as easy to handle as kibble, reducing mess.

“Our customers tend to be people who are very aware of the food chain, how food is processed and what chemicals are being added,” he said. “They extend their values about nutrition onto their pets.”

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